Despair as China executes three Filipinos- law is law...

MANILA: Chinese authorities executed three Filipino drug mules on Wednesday, triggering condemnation in the Catholic Philippines and despair for relatives who witnessed their final moments. "I just want to inform you that our three compatriots have been executed," Vice President Jejomar Binay announced over local radio, although there being no public announcement from the Chinese government. "It is a sad day for all of us. Until the last moment, we did everything we could to save the three." The three - Ramon Credo, 42, Sally Villanueva, 32, and Elizabeth Batain, 38 - were arrested separately in China in 2008 for smuggling heroin and sentenced to death. The Philippine government had made repeated appeals in recent months to spare the lives of the trio, including by sending Binay to Beijing on a mission to have their sentences commuted to life in jail. But the Chinese gover...